Kieran Owens - Reflective Analysis

Kieran Owens

Role(s): Editor, Producer, Cinematographer and Sound and Music.

Reflective Analysis

The title of my filmed sequence is “ Shutter “ and the genre is thriller. This genre was chosen because we believed it would make for the most interesting plot if done right.  The plot is of a young girl who is unknowingly being followed by a stranger; the stranger is following her from bushes etc. and taking multiple pictures of her using his camera.  The film follows her home just as the strange camera-man does and shows him sneaking into her house, cutting off as he stands over her asleep leaving the ending of the short film ambiguous.

Our aim was to create a feeling of suspense and enigma using camerawork, editing and sound ; for example using the camera that the assailant is carrying allowed for us to use editing to have each picture he takes flash up on screen, it makes the audience wonder what the man is taking the pictures for, why he’s following her. It makes it clear his intention is not that of somebody who was hired to do such a thing by having her do mundane tasks (such as smoking, or just stretching her arms) to make the cameraman seem all the more creepy.

When it came to location, we wanted to use somewhere big and open but at the same time rural looking, this is why we used Hillyfields Park and Connors house for filming, whilst it was open on the field, there was still an urban area in the distance to make it clear she wasn’t out in the middle of nowhere, the reason we wished to make it clear she was in an urban area was to raise more suspense by making her look as average as we could, because it makes it feel as though it could happen to just about anybody, even those watching.

The first micro-feature we prioritized was the camerawork, we wanted to use interesting shots to put more into the shot (such as the shot that starts as an over-the-shoulder shot that slowly transitions to a medium shot from behind the woman, that then slowly pans around to her front.) this gives the audience an idea that the camera man is keeping his distance, and the slow pan around the woman shows him hiding behind her, in bushes.  It shows the woman is oblivious to his presence, raising the tension of the scene. Another use of camerawork used for this purpose is the close-up of the back of the camera-man’s head; the close-up follows the camera-man as he makes his way into an unlocked door of the one he was following, walking quietly through her house and into her room. The reason we used this long lasting shit was to raise the suspense of the scene, it allowed us to have a slow build up as he makes his way through, it makes the audience ask if he’ll be seen by somebody else in the house, if the one he’s following will catch her, until he finally enters her bedroom and makes it clear she’s at his mercy.

The other we tried to focus on was sound; we wanted to make the movie descent into darkness impactful and yet mysterious, leave as much as we could to the imagination allowing for the audience to come up with their own opinions on what was happing whilst using subtly to sway their thoughts to a darker conclusion. An example of this is the first part of the movie, the calm of the birds chirping and the soft winds don’t immediately make one think of danger, this allows people to let their guard down whilst the sequence as a whole slowly becomes darker, as the sun goes down the music becomes creepier and less sound effects are used until nothing but the slow creepy music is playing.

Overall, I think the sequence as a whole went rather well. We managed to meet our aims of using sound, editing and camerawork to create a suspenseful atmosphere that (hopefully) left the audience wanting to know what would come after the sequence. But if I could change one thing it’d be the equipment used, whilst the camera was fine the main issue was the lack of a steadicam, trying to move whilst holding the camera still was a difficult task and it meant multiple shots, trying to find one that wasn't too shaky, though these can be very expensive too.

Word Count: 754